Even people with no way of seeing it on Broadway are obsessed with the musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop retelling of America’s founding story as seen through the eyes of the era’s leading banker and abolitionist, Alexander Hamilton.

So naturally it’s time to start speculating about who will bring the theatrical smash hit to the big screen.

Ryan Coogler, the 29-year-old director of Fruitvale Station and Creed, who saw the musical on Sunday night and spent time afterward backstage with Miranda, might just be the man for the job.

At a dinner for Oscar voters Monday night in Manhattan, Coogler said he’d be more than happy to direct a movie adaptation. “I think anyone who ever picked up a camera would,” he said. “That’s all people are talking about in California right now.” The subject didn’t come up between him and Miranda, so consider this article a friendly suggestion!

Coogler, who grew up in Oakland and attended U.S.C. film school, said his interest in history spiked after the release of Fruitvale Station, which dramatizes the true story of Oscar Grant, the 22-year-old black man shot and killed by police while handcuffed in Oakland in 2009. Coogler, 27 at the time of Fruitvale’s release, had hoped the film’s box-office success and Oscar nomination would have some kind of positive effect on real-world events. “Instead, things just kept getting worse,” he said.

That inspired him to look back at the past, to understand the larger forces at play in the fraught relationship between African-Americans and the police. During a Q&A with Creed stars Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson, Coogler said that, as a black man, he feels like “a personification of America’s worst sin.” Had it not been for the crime of slavery, in other words, he wouldn’t even be here.

Coogler tied that unpleasant feeling to the themes of Creed, whose protagonist, Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), is the illegitimate son of the late boxing champion Apollo Creed, played in early Rocky films by actor Carl Weathers.

It’s only by overcoming his sense that he’s “a mistake” that Adonis can discover his true identity and find happiness.

Watching Hamilton on Sunday, Coogler found that the action onstage resonated with today’s events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, in unexpected ways.

“I’m taking a new approach and a new passion to looking at history—specifically American history,” he said. “So it was really amazing to see this play that takes two things—hip-hop and the American Revolution—that you would think wouldn’t have anything to do with each other, but they actually fit each other like a glove. When you look at the idea of the underdog, the idea of people feeling like they are being overlooked, people who feel like they have something to prove. And the shortsightedness that revolutionaries could have at times. You know what I mean? They could be simultaneously longsighted and shortsighted.”

The Creed team was on hand to fan the flames of Oscar excitement in advance of this week’s voting deadline. During the Q&A, moderated by CBS This Morning host__ Gayle King,__ Coogler and Stallone traded compliments in a way that felt significantly more genuine than the usual awards-season fluffing.

Asked if Coogler reminded him of himself as a young director, Stallone replied, “No, he’s much better.”

Coogler, for his part, said that the ultra-prepared Stallone, who turned up each morning with dozens of questions about his character’s motivation, lit a fire under him on the very first day of shooting. “I realized that first time, I gotta have answers for all these questions,” he said to laughter from the audience. “I can’t be like, ‘Well, Sly, I don’t know.’”

Coogler also recounted the now familiar story of how he approached Stallone about reviving the character of Rocky, back in 2012. When King asked how the then unknown director had even managed to get an audience with Stallone, Coogler launched into a charming and very funny tale involving his father’s obsession with the Rocky movies, the agency WME’s “Men in Black” headquarters, and a last-minute flight to meet the actor in Los Angeles just days before shooting was set to begin on Fruitvale Station.

On the way, Coogler said, he stopped by the store to pick up a DVD copy of Rocky II. “Oh, what the hell,” he remembered thinking. “If the pitch goes bad, at least I’ll get this signed for my dad.”

Kate (Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay)—45 Years

How easily can a 45-year marriage come apart? In Andrew Haigh’s remarkably tense, but also romantic, drama, Rampling and Courtenay unravel decades of domestic bliss in a series of sharply written, exquisitely acted scenes from a domestic life that, until recently, seemed perfect. Just a few years after Amour, it’s another contender for the best-ever cinematic depiction of marriage.

An old-fashioned drama about men of morals in difficult times, Bridge of Spies is also a story of surprising friendship, and it would not work if Hanks and Rylance didn’t so immediately sell the unlikely bond between Brooklyn lawyer Donovan and Russian spy Abel. Even when the film reaches a hard-won happy ending, it’s sad to see the two part.

Photo: Courtesy of DreamWorks.

Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) and Tony (Emory Cohen)—Brooklyn

We’ve already praised Cohen for giving one of the best overlooked performances of the year in this period-piece gem, but just as remarkable is what he and Ronan do together, as two good Brooklyn kids crossing an ethnic barrier to find love together. A date at Coney Island has never seemed so romantic.

Photo: Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara)—Carol

There’s a reason Oscar-watchers are so furious about Mara’s intended designation as supporting actress—Carol is a true two-hander, and together Blanchett and Mara build a romance as finely detailed and lovely as the period designs that surround them. Love has never been this gorgeous.

A movie named after its main character doesn’t seem to leave much room for anyone else, which is why Winslet’s performance as Jobs’s right-hand woman Joanna Hoffman is all the more impressive. It’s a thankless job, being the brilliant woman standing up to the famous and brilliant man, but Fassbender and Winslet bring real warmth to this work marriage, a union of equals, even if the world never knew it.

Photo: Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor)—Tangerine

What is friendship if not following your best friend on her quest to re-unite with her loser boyfriend, or sharing your wig after a long night? Sin-Dee and Alexandra may be loud and wild, and not always that nice to each other, but by the end of Tangerine their bond is as clear and bright as the sign for Donut Time.

Opening Labor Day weekend with a minimum of fanfare, this low-key adaptation of Bill Bryson’s beloved book went on to become a surprise hit, earning $29 million—the most for a film that premiered at Redford’s own Sundance Film Festival since Precious. Who would have guessed that Redford and Nolte were still such box-office magic?

Photo: Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures.

Kate (Charlotte Rampling) and Geoff (Tom Courtenay)—45 Years

How easily can a 45-year marriage come apart? In Andrew Haigh’s remarkably tense, but also romantic, drama, Rampling and Courtenay unravel decades of domestic bliss in a series of sharply written, exquisitely acted scenes from a domestic life that, until recently, seemed perfect. Just a few years after Amour, it’s another contender for the best-ever cinematic depiction of marriage.

An old-fashioned drama about men of morals in difficult times, Bridge of Spies is also a story of surprising friendship, and it would not work if Hanks and Rylance didn’t so immediately sell the unlikely bond between Brooklyn lawyer Donovan and Russian spy Abel. Even when the film reaches a hard-won happy ending, it’s sad to see the two part.

Courtesy of DreamWorks.

Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) and Tony (Emory Cohen)—Brooklyn

We’ve already praised Cohen for giving one of the best overlooked performances of the year in this period-piece gem, but just as remarkable is what he and Ronan do together, as two good Brooklyn kids crossing an ethnic barrier to find love together. A date at Coney Island has never seemed so romantic.

Courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara)—Carol

There’s a reason Oscar-watchers are so furious about Mara’s intended designation as supporting actress—Carol is a true two-hander, and together Blanchett and Mara build a romance as finely detailed and lovely as the period designs that surround them. Love has never been this gorgeous.

Of all the things that make this surprising franchise reboot such a delight, the surrogate father-son relationship between Adonis and Rocky is at the very center. The trainer/up-and-comer relationship has been mimicked in so many movies since Rocky, but Stallone brings the weight of history to his elder statesmen part, while Jordan reflects back Rocky’s own former youthful exuberance along with a brand-new anger and drive. Anyone with a soft spot for a father-son relationship won’t make it through this one dry-eyed.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) and David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg)—The End of the Tour

Described by director James Ponsoldt as a “hangout movie,” The End of the Tour is also a delicate exploration of the rivalries and insecurities that can exist between any two people striving in the same field, and Segel and Eisenberg play every bit of that complicated dynamic while appearing to just, well, hang out. Segel has received the lion’s share of praise for the film, but it’s Eisenberg’s twitchy, desperate energy that enlivens Segel’s David Foster Wallace in every scene.

Courtesy of Sundance.

Elle (Lily Tomlin) and Karl (Sam Elliott)—Grandma

Grandma is really a two-hander between Elle and her granddaughter, Sage (Julia Garner, also great), but the film roars to life when Elle meets up with Sam Elliott’s Karl, an old flame with every reason to loathe her, but plenty of affection left too. Between this and I’ll See You in My Dreams, Elliott made a strong case for himself as the silver fox of the year.

Courtesy of Sony Press Classics.

Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and Max (Tom Hardy)—Mad Max: Fury Road

For all the ways Fury Road flips the typical action movie on its head, the boldest move may be the respectful but completely platonic bond between Furiosa and Max, two loners thrown together in battle and learning to rely on someone else. The most iconic image may be Furiosa using Max as a human tripod, but their back and forth is much more balanced than that; maybe not a model for friendship between most men and women, but in these crazy circumstances, probably the best anyone could hope for.

Even in his meme-ready gas station dance to “I Want It That Way,” Big Dick Richie is just looking for love and acceptance in Magic Mike XXL, which is exactly what he finds in the arms of rich South Carolina housewife Nancy. Their flirtation, surrounded by the rest of the gang, is a delight, but it’s Richie’s mussy-haired morning-after arrival in the kitchen that really makes you believe in this crazy love story.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Brooke (Greta Gerwig) and Tracy (Lola Kirke)—Mistress America

Kirke’s Tracy is a college student just forming ideas of her own, which makes it incredibly easy to be swept up by stepsister-to-be Brooke, who spouts ideas and plans at every turn. Brooke’s a classic life-changing Auntie Mame figure, but Mistress America is a wilier movie, and Kirke and Gerwig build a friendship/rivalry that should ring achingly true for anyone who ever thought they’d figured it all out by just following someone else’s lead.

Courtesy of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) and Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne)—Spy

The Bridesmaids co-stars re-unite and form the comedy duo you didn’t know you were dreaming of: whippet-thin Byrne, with a borscht-y Russian accent and giant hair, is so dismissive and mean to McCarthy's unlikely spy Susan Cooper, but all you want is to see the two of them share the screen again. Whatever plot mechanics it would take to bring the two of them together again for the sequel would be worth it.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.

Finn (John Boyega) and Poe (Oscar Isaac)—Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The duo that’s already launched a thousand slash-fiction ships may not actually be the great romance of the new Star Wars saga, but their immediate chemistry and delight in each other’s talents as pilots and fighters lend a vibrant spark to the early moments of The Force Awakens. May nothing but BB-8 ever come between them.

A movie named after its main character doesn’t seem to leave much room for anyone else, which is why Winslet’s performance as Jobs’s right-hand woman Joanna Hoffman is all the more impressive. It’s a thankless job, being the brilliant woman standing up to the famous and brilliant man, but Fassbender and Winslet bring real warmth to this work marriage, a union of equals, even if the world never knew it.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor)—Tangerine

What is friendship if not following your best friend on her quest to re-unite with her loser boyfriend, or sharing your wig after a long night? Sin-Dee and Alexandra may be loud and wild, and not always that nice to each other, but by the end of Tangerine their bond is as clear and bright as the sign for Donut Time.

Opening Labor Day weekend with a minimum of fanfare, this low-key adaptation of Bill Bryson’s beloved book went on to become a surprise hit, earning $29 million—the most for a film that premiered at Redford’s own Sundance Film Festival since Precious. Who would have guessed that Redford and Nolte were still such box-office magic?